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[QUOTE=NOHOH;2743680]Of course you are going to die Dylan...just like the rest of us......but probably not from exploding cans........

About 950 years ago, one of my student summer jobs was working in a canning factory. The full cans , complete with lids were put inside an `autoclave`....like a giant pressure cooker..and steam heated to some fantastic temperature and pressure...to cook and sterilize the food.......If they can withstand that...they can withstand being put in hot water for 20 mins or so. Quote

I Can't let that go without correction. An autoclave heats under pressure. The pressure on the outside of the can balances the pressure in the can so no risk of explosion.
So we can' t use that example as an indication of the safety of heating sealed cans. However if can is boiled in water then there will be no explosion of can unless water boils dry or can gets hotter than temp of boiling water. olewill

You do realise you are now describing Fray Bentos pies, aka FB pies, and every time I describe them as dog food, however cooked, I get flamed by aficionados.

Of course, since FB pies get heated in an oven (and then, the only time I've ever encountered them on a boat, tipped onto the cabin sole) rather than boiled, they don't conform to Dylan's Law of Unopened Tins. I have heard of FB pie explosions taking place (not on a boat) when someone grasped the "bake in the tin" idea but didn't actually read the instructions.

I work in the food can making industry. As you mention many food cans are subjected to what is known as a "Retort Process". Batches of cans are placed in what is essentially a large pressure cooker and are steam sterilised typically at 121c for 30 minutes. Depending on the contents some cans are sterlised at 132c for 45 minutes.

For the internally lacquered cans and externally printed cans, for my part I must ensure that there is no loss of adhesion, no change of colour, to either the internal lacquers or external print following retort. All food can making factories have retort simulating equipment in their QC labs.

Basically problems with exploding cans are never encountered even at the elevated temperatures that retort processes subject cans to. Only problem we tend to get is the mess that can be difficult and time consuming to clean up when cans on which the ends have not been seamed on correctly leak all over the others.

I always though that things like stew were put into cans at the factory raw and the cans were heated to cook the product thus ensuring no possibility of contamination / going bad. Anyone know if this is correct?